Facebook now gives all new users a privacy tutorial, thanks to Irish authorities

Starting Friday, new users will get a guide to sharing and privacy policies.

Calling all six billion humans who are not yet members of Facebook: should you decide to join the world’s largest social network, the company will now make sure you understand "how sharing works."

While that may sound like a lesson you (should have) learned in kindergarten, Facebook wrote Friday that it new users would be taken through a "more prominent and detailed educational privacy information to new users as soon as they begin the process of signing up for Facebook. These updates to our sign-up process will be visible to most new users around the globe starting today."

Enlarge/ This is one of the pages new Facebook users will see upon signing up.

The company said in its blog post that these new changes came at the suggestion of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s Office, which has found itself in the strange position of being the de facto global data protection authority for non-American and non-Canadian Facebook users. Since 2009, Facebook’s global headquarters have been in Ireland, largely for tax reasons. Under the European privacy principle of "right of access," anyone outside the United States and Canada can compel Facebook to release the data that the company holds about them.

New users, Facebook writes, will now receive "specific education" on various topics, including default settings, access to data, Timeline, how this data interacts with applications and websites, how ads work on the site, how tagging works, and how to find friends on the network.

Ars will have a lengthy story coming soon about the ongoing legal battle involving these Irish authorities, Facebook, and Max Schrems, the Austrian law student who has galvanized thousands of Facebook users to bring complaints of data protection violations against the company.

It would be nice if Facebook made this tutorial available to existing users as well. As has been pointed out, their privacy settings are a constantly moving target, and I would say that the majority of people on my friends list demonstrate a continuing ignorance about this. I see people confused by the fact that a public post they "liked" shows up in their friends' feeds, or not knowing that you can turn off the setting that instantly publishes photos you're tagged in to all your friends' feeds. (At least, you can turn it off now. Who knows about tomorrow?)

At any rate, it would be nice to be able to point some of my more clueless friends and family members to a tutorial that at least explains how the privacy settings work at this moment.

I find it interesting that quite a few people here (and on other sites) think that Facebook sell data to third-parties. That's not strictly true, they sell the capability for third parties to target people based on their data.

I have no problem with people hating Facebook's business model - but I'd prefer it if they understood what that actually was, rather than hating something which isn't quite accurate.

Look, its easy. Google and Facebook offer me a deal. I get to use their computers and software in exchange for my list of contacts, friends, relationship details, personal and private emails, pictures, movies and my shopping preferences, and whatever else. I would give to my closest friends and family.

So all we need from Google and Facebook is a weekly statement of accounts. Showing what I used and what I gave up for it.

That's all. A simple business statement. If that isn't possible, then I suspect I'm not operating in a consumer's free market. I should be able to take my private info with me to the competitors and negotiate a better deal. If I can't do that, well, something akin to deceit is at work.

I do already know how Facebook sharing works and with who Facebook shares my personal business with, which is why I am not a member.

It's because Facebook sharing is a constantly changing target. What may be private today may no longer be private tomorrow. And you won't know when and how it changed.

Same reason my household is not on Facebook either.

So you never heard of keeping your private info private? Using a junk email to set it up and not using your real name? I'm always amazed at how much personal information people voluntarily share with that site. I think many people need a lesson in common sense privacy on the internet in general.